The humidity greets me with a sticky embrace as I step outside onto my back porch in Austin. I question whether to turn and walk back into my office. No, I need to breathe something other than air-conditioned air this morning.
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All articles filed in Hope
Guests of Honor
I’ve not yet had the opportunity to go dress shopping and choose “the perfect dress” or plan a celebration of love and commitment to the wild and kind man whom I will one day call my best friend. These are hopes and longings of mine that have been threaded into the deep tapestry of my…
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Mercy
“I am not nearly as much fun as I was a year ago.” I made this statement to a friend after she asked what I’ve observed as the biggest change in myself since I started working as a chaplain. Sitting with others in the depths of their despair, pain, loneliness, and lack of resources is…
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Right Around the Corner
Hope makes itself every day Springs up from the tiniest places No one gives it to us We just notice it Quiet in the small moment– Naomi Shihab Nye Most winters my husband and I travel south to capture some sunshine and warmth. We go to rejuvenate, to restore faith that the darkness of our…
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Finding Springs in the Desert
It all looks the same. Fields split wide open, clusters of rusting cars and square houses bending with the weight of the earth. Buttes appear in the distance, but I can’t seem to get close. A hazy sky mutes the miles, and dry dust kicks up behind the tires of my Jeep Wrangler. Along stretches…
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What Remains
Several years ago I was inspired to write a short poem based on 1 Corinthians 13:13, which states that faith, hope, and love are the three most important virtues. I’ve always preferred short poems over epic poetry because a.) I’m a slow reader, and b.) I have a short attention span. But, give me a…
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Lament’s Bloom
Complex grief is the terminology I’d use to describe my 2023. That year I was in a bad car accident, my ovarian cysts caused me to bleed for three months, my mother was diagnosed with stage four cancer and passed away within six months, I was sexually assaulted at a spa, my two-year relationship ended,…
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Breaking Ground
“A turtle got it,” my dad said to me as I looked with utter devastation at the claw marks on my prized watermelon. I was eight years old and had waited months for my favorite fruit to be ready. Days before I got to cut it open, our neighborhood turtles decided to make it their…
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There’s More in You Than You Know
My favorite piece of jewelry is a gold necklace—a dainty chain and a small gold disc that resembles a British pound coin. The outer edge of the pendant has a tiny scalloped edge circling the round shape, which gives it a unique beauty. On one side the word Hope is engraved, and on the other,…
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The Solidarity of Sisterhood
Her text came at 4:45 p.m. “There is a shooter in the mall.” “I’m safe.” “In the back.” “Our gate is closed, and everyone is out of sight.” I was standing in my closet, trying to decide what to wear to a party we were set to attend. As much for myself as for her,…
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